nickel for my thoughts

  I have been blessed with a really, really good life on during my time on earth. I have two awesome parents and three really cool siblings. The Lord has given me great friends during all my stages of life. I grew up in a Christian home and had a really supportive community around me growing up. Then, I got to spend four years growing and being sharpened at the best university in Texas (hook 'em!), and now I have been given a gift of a year to study Scripture and learn to back up what I believe. In short, I am privileged and blessed.  That being said, I've had really hard seasons of life. We all lived through COVID. Before I was born, my grandfather passed away, so there's one grandparent that I simply never met. Since then, I've lost two other grandparents. I experienced the trivial trials of both high school and college that were acute at the time. And, I am epileptic so there are certain activities and normal parts of life that cause me more trepidation or anxiety th...

  A couple weeks ago at the Institute, we studied the book of Hebrews. Then, a group of us got the chance to visit the land of the Hebrews. For twelve days, we explored Israel –  the land promised to Abraham and Moses about 4000 years ago, the land Joshua conquered not long after, the land David ruled about 3000 years ago, the land Jesus walked 2000 years ago, and the land to which Jesus will one day return. Israel was a nation formed by God (Genesis 16) to be a display of God's power to all other nations that He might be worshiped by all for His majesty. One of the ways God showed His power was through his dwelling place among the people. He instructed Moses and a  creative  artist named Bezalel to erect a place in which He could live with His people.  The tabernacle stood for about   480 years  before King Solomon built a grand temple as a place of worship and house for the Ark of the Covenant, which was where the Spirit of the Lord dwelt. Thousands ...